The Chiaroscuro: Chapter 3
Lorelei's POV Abandoned Warehouse, Tramore, Ireland ' ''My side feels like it's splitting. I try to move, but pain holds me down. I feel something wet. I ''am wet. Am I soaked in water? Or am I covered in blood? I can't see. I hear distant, whispering voices. If they are close or if they actually are far away, I can't tell. My entire body feels numb. The only thing that I do feel, is a hot light beaming down at me as I crawl back into consciousness. '' "When did you get here?" Someone asks, beside me. "How did you find us?" Another demands, amazed. "What happened?" A boy's voice asks. "My name is Josh." I still can't see. My mouth is dry. My jaw hurts. It feels broken. I stammer, "From what I remember ..." I looked around the circle of my friends in the firelight. Grace, my best friend dressed in her best and only black U2 concert tee, tosses me a cold hotdog. Aidan, a ginger boy with grimy jeans and an old Lacoste shirt, tries his best to cook his hotdog without burning his shivering, bony fingers. Doyle and Fergus, the 17 year old, dark haired Scottish twins, sit down beside me, on the old tire I used like a La-Z-boy, in the abandoned warehouse in Tramore, Ireland. My hometown. We were run-aways. Some came from their home and some came from foster homes, like me. And some had been run-aways for years, like Doyle and Fergus McMoraugh. "Well," they both said in unison. "We stole this off a fisherman in the docks last week. Quite the find!" Doyle handed me a metal watch. It was old and beaten, but it was still gorgeous. At the back of the clock, they'd carved: LORA STONE. "We didn't have enough room for yer whole name." Fergus nudged me. "Lorelei Virginia Stone is fifteen!" Doyle shouted, his voice echoing on the steel walls. Grace grinned, keeping her eyes on Aidan to make sure he didn't catch flames. Aidan stifled a laugh. "Are ye daft?" I yell at him. "Do ye want the cops to catch us?" Doyle shrugged. Fergus laughed a bit. "Ouch!" Aidan yelled. "Ah, criminy! I-" "Burnt yer fingers." Everyone said in unison. "Ah," Grace nudged me, pushing a lock of chocolate brown hair out of her face and quickly returning to nurse Aidan's hand. "What time is it, by chance?" I checked the watch. "Um... 11:53." Her face looked shocked. Doyle grabbed his things and shoved them into his bag, as did everyone else with their things. "C'mon!" Fergus screamed at me. "We're goin' ta miss it!" He pulled me up off my butt and gave me my old Under Armour backpack. "What the bloody hell is going on?!" I screamed at them. It was my birthday and they were ditching me? "We've got another surprise for you." Aidan teased, jamming his old Walkman in his bag. "Just hurry!" Grace quickly doused the fire and packed the last of the food. Doyle grabbed the old locked coffee tin that we kept our money in and carefully placed it in his bag. I scrambled to pack my stuff. All I had was an old beat up iPod nano, a camera, the new watch, some extra cash and my run-away supplies. I shoved my pocketknife into my back pocket and tied my sweater around my waist. Then, with everyone ready, we bolted for the door. Five minutes of non-stop running later, we made it to the freight ship docks. Doyle rolled some rocks into the water a few feet from where some big, old workmen were smoking cigarettes and downing the last of their whisky. As the rocks fell into the murky Irish water, the drunken workers shuffled over to see what happened. We ran up the wooden plank, ducking behind a giant crate of Guinness Beer. "I have to pee now!" Aidan moaned, plugging his ears from the sound of the beer shaking in the cans. We all laughed. As the ship's door closed, we broke out the flashlights and ate the rest of the food we had saved for today. "Okay," I said. "Why are we here? Where are we going?" They looked to Fergus. "Well," He looked around, then pulling a folded brochure from under his coat. "We are going to New York!" I couldn't believe it. I'd been dying to go to New York for years. Not because it's a popular place, but that's where my dad lived. My parents met when my mom went to New York for a holiday. They had a great time. When I used to live with her, she hadn't told me much of him. All I knew was that he worked at the Empire State Building, he had stormy grey-ish black hair and had the most gorgeous blue eyes in the world. My mother said I had his eyes. Constantly changing to match the weather. "But... what about you guys?" "Ah," Grace shrugged. "I'm going to live with my cousins in New Jersey and Aidan is coming with me. And the Twit Twins are going to find jobs." Doyle and Fergus smirked. After a series of questions and excited shrieks (most of which, were mine), we settled down and fell asleep. That's when I fell into my dream. I was sitting in a forest. The tall redwoods, reaching up from the earth and touching the sky. The ground was soft and mossy. The sky above, from what I could tell from the shards of it I could see, a storm was brewing almost directly above me. A twig snapped behind me. I whirled around, facing a black crow. It was small, but it seemed different from others. Then, it came closer. Thunder boomed above and the crow flew away. Lightning flashed and rain fell like rocks beating against my skin. Shouts came from the horizon. Footsteps pounded the earth, making my fear grow. Suddenly, I was on the ground, the side of my ribcage pulsing with hot searing pain. I tried to see what happened, and I instantly regretted it. I stared into the face of a giant black wolf with fiery red eyes. Its cruel breath wafting into my face. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything but become prey to the sinister beast. "Get out of here!" A familiar voice yelled. The wolf picked its head up, about to strike again and then ... everything went black. I shot up screaming, to find myself on a dock. Doyle was laying down and wasn't moving, maybe passed out or maybe... dead. Fergus tried compressions on him, put nothing was happening. Grace knelt above me, trying to pull cotton swabs from a plastic bag. She applied it to my side, and I yelled out. Did my dream just happen? Then, I passed out again. "Looks serious." Speaks the voice beside me. "Hellhound." Josh says, dabbing my head with a wet cloth. "She was with three other kids. One was dead when I got there. The girl, Grace said another was missing." '' ''Doyle. He's dead. How, I had no idea. And Aidan, little Aidan, is missing. It makes me cry. '' ''"Alex, go get Kari." Josh says. "Okay." Says Alex, above me. He runs off. ''"Well, if she lives, she's defiantly joining us." 'The voice beside me says. "'We could use her, especially seeing as her dad is-" '' "Sarah, shush." Josh whispers. Then, a liquid that tastes like coffee, but cold, is poured into my mouth and I fall asleep. '''The Chiaroscuro Homepage [[The Chiaroscuro: Chapter 4|'Chapter 4']] Category:Chiaroscuro Category:TheWiseOne